Police and residents trying to rid a nature reserve of drunks and drug addicts have been rewarded for their efforts.

Police and residents trying to rid a nature reserve of drunks and drug addicts have been rewarded for their efforts.

Tynemouth Area Command has been chosen to represent Northumbria Police in the Tilley Awards which recognise the best police problem-solving in the UK.

The command has been nominated for its nine-month crackdown on crime and disorder at Marden Quarry, a Whitley Bay beauty spot.

Officers were called in last summer when youths were seen there shooting swans with an airgun.

Since then police, Friends of Marden Quarry and the Priors Action Group have organised litter-picks and patrols to clean-up the quarry. And now a no-drinking by-law is to be introduced to stop teenagers congregating there at night.

Inspector Neil Simpson said: "The police have worked with residents, the council and project managers."